Is it slightly ironic that in a democratic country the idea behind democracy is that it's the peoples choice/free will, yet not voting is illegal? aka, you're being forced to express your democratic power

The people closely associated with the namesake of female canines are suffering from a nondescript form of lunacy.
"Anti-environmentalism is like standing in front of a forest and going 'quick kill them they're coming right for us!'" - Jake Farr-Wharton, The Imaginary Friend Show.

When voting is mandatory you can still just hand in an empty ballot. As long as you turn up, then all is well. Or at least that is what I have been lead to believe by friends in places where this is the case.

Still don't agree with it though. It is very rare that there is someone that actually deserves to get votes.

Actually I think it's not a problem in terms of freedom. Freedom and democracy is not just something that happens, it takes an active involvement of the people to keep it working and improving.
As long as they don't force you to vote for someone, the blank vote can convey a very important message to the ruling class, if a lot of people votes blank then they know they can't have too much legitimacy and they'll be more cautious with what they do.
Also we understand voting as both a right and a duty, it's an intermediate category, that's why the penalties for voting are rarely enforced. In spanish legalese is called "potestad" which means "power" and with great power comes great responsibility

(10-11-2012 10:21 AM)BryanS Wrote: It's bad enough we had a governors Jesse Ventura in Minnesota and Arnold Schwarzenegger in California. If everyone was forced to vote, we'd all have to endure president Snooki.

I'm shocked you mock the body. And aren't on his side since these days he is all over programs to tell them how they are burying their head in the sand and need a clean sweep of ending the illegal wars and social programs that cripple the country.

You wouldn't need primaries that pander to a 10% extreme group, that would be beneficial right there by tremendous bounds.

"Allow there to be a spectrum in all that you see" - Neil Degrasse Tyson

Quote:As long as they don't force you to vote for someone, the blank vote can
convey a very important message to the ruling class, if a lot of people
votes blank then they know they can't have too much legitimacy and
they'll be more cautious with what they do.

I think you trust that politicians care enough about legitimacy when as long as they win, I'm sure they really don't care how many people voted/didn't vote.